My ain fireside...

I HAE see great anes and sat in great ha’s,
’Mang lords and fine ladies a’ covered wi’ braws,
At feasts made for princes wi’ princes I ’ve been,
When the grand shine o’ splendor has dazzled my een;
But a sight sae delightfu’ I trow I ne’er spied
As the bonny blithe blink o’ my ain fireside.
My ain fireside, my ain fireside,
O, cheery ’s the blink o’ my ain fireside;
My ain fireside, my ain fireside,
O, there ’s naught to compare wi’ ane’s ain fireside.

Elizabeth Hamilton was an essayist, poet, satirist and novelist. She was most probably born on 25 July 1756, in Belfast to Charles Hamilton, a Scottish merchant, and his wife Katherine Mackay. Her father died the year after she was born, and she moved to Scotland to live with a Mrs Marshall, her paternal aunt, near Stirling and spent much of her later life in Edinburgh. She died in Harrogate in England after a short illness in 1816. Sir Henry Raeburn painted her portrait in 1812.